“A Difficult Balancing Act”: What Planning Involves

Abstract

Drawing on verbatim transcriptions of over 200 interviews, the article systematically analyzes the use of the concept of “balance” in what planners and others say about the nature and role of planning and planners. Planning involves managing competing aims and economic interests in processes that are simultaneously political and technical: what many call “a balancing act.” Discourse analysis of the content and form of utterances involving the root balanc* suggests that the words people choose in describing planning can simultaneously reflect and obscure power relations and decision processes.

Keywords:

• Role of planner
• discourse analysis
• consultation
• communication
• power
• Canada

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to colleagues who partnered with me on these projects, the planning students who worked diligently to arrange and conduct the interviews, and to people across the country who shared their perspectives. Thanks to Uytae Lee for making the map.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Heart and Stroke Foundation by grant 2007, Optimizing investments in the built environment; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada by grant 410-2009-0004; Trends in residential environments: 412-2010-1003. [R Keil, PI] Global sub-urbanisms: 435-2013-0006. Coordinating land use planning in 435-2014-0102. [P Filion PI] from urban dispersion.

Notes on contributors

Jill L. Grant

Jill L. Grant FCIP is Professor Emeritus in Planning at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. Her research examines community planning practice, neighbourhood change, and planning history. She is the author or editor of six books and dozens of articles. Since 2015 she has served as an Associate Editor of Planning Theory & Practice.